Ok, so my husband and I finally have ALL of the animal food products out of our home! We're now ready to start this new lifestyle! We're both in it for the health benefits and for the concern for animals, but I'm also in it for weight loss. And since I tend to be lazy and have a hard time sticking with things, I decided to go ahead and write it all down (perhaps ya'll can help inspire me and offer advice, and maybe I can set goals for myself to achieve and watch myself achieve them). Anyway, here's my starting stats and what I'll be doing and such...

I'm 22 years old, about 6 feet tall, and about 240 pounds. I'm very fat, infact I've been considered obese. I have piles of fat everywhere, though mostly on the lower half of my body. I realize many of you post pictures of your changes. Well, besides the fact of me being camera shy and hating how ugly my body looks, I am very modest and don't like to show off. (So if I did post full-body pics, you wouldn't be able to tell any difference with my big long poofy skirt in the way! lol.) I might get creative with my artwork, though, and draw up some silhouette pics or something, to show some sort of visual as to how much I change. lol.

I've had a hard time shedding weight with diets in the past, and yo-yo dieted a bit. I used to have emotional eating problems, but have been a lot better at that. I have a sweet tooth, and tend to eat sweet stuff often, but have been trying to contain myself. I'm not usually that active, and tend to get tired quickly due to the heaviness of all the weight I have to carry around, so I'll start some goals of being more active too.

I will basically list my daily eating habits, and also if I do any exercise of any type, and a weekly reading of my weight change (I don't weigh myself daily, as it only made me paranoid and depressed in the past just because I wasn't losing weight quick enough).

My husband and I are basically following the same routine (except for any extra exercises I may do, besides walking, like lifting weights, sit-ups, etc.).

So, I'm starting with today...

Due to going to bed late, I woke up at 1 pm. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (on whole wheat bread, the main homemade bread we usually make) for breakfast. Throughout the day, we had great nothern white bean and veggie soup (the big pot of it that we cooked lasts the whole day). I will have an orange before bed, too. That's about it for today. We're going to bed early tonight so I can TRY to get back on schedule and stick to a good routine.

I would definitely recommend not trying to take the weight off too quickly. I know it is really tempting once the pounds start shedding, but for loose skin and health reasons, it can be bad. I went from 275 to 165 (or thereabouts, I can never remember the exact numbers) in a matter of nine or so months and I ended up with lots of loose skin and lost muscle. Take is slow and keep up the resistance exercises and you will find yourself with a metabolism that isn't shot in the leg, more muscle and less loose skin when you arrive at your goal.

The metric system is socialized measurment. If you implement it it will only be a matter of time before your grandma will stand in front of a death panel being forced to deny the existance of baby Jesus.

Are you planning at some point to introduce cardio exercise into your regime? Nothing boosts your metabolism and burns off calories like cardio. Of course, that may be something to consider later on down the road once you've adjusted to your new lifestyle a bit.)

(I was not overweight, but I lost more than 20% of my body weight by starting to exercise and eat properly.)

cubby2112 wrote:I would definitely recommend not trying to take the weight off too quickly. I know it is really tempting once the pounds start shedding, but for loose skin and health reasons, it can be bad. I went from 275 to 165 (or thereabouts, I can never remember the exact numbers) in a matter of nine or so months and I ended up with lots of loose skin and lost muscle. Take is slow and keep up the resistance exercises and you will find yourself with a metabolism that isn't shot in the leg, more muscle and less loose skin when you arrive at your goal.

Oh, I already know that. (And if I didn't, my husband sure warned me enough, lol.) I've already decided that for the first few weeks, I'll be barely active (my usual thing, lol). That way, the weight is not coming off faster. Also, if I start feeling ill from my body cleansing itself of all those horrid putrifying meats and junk, I won't feel worse from being more active.

Are there any resistance exercises you have in mind? I have some of those resistance band thingys lying around here somewhere... ...so I could probably use those, too.

pamela wrote:Good luck!

Are you planning at some point to introduce cardio exercise into your regime? Nothing boosts your metabolism and burns off calories like cardio. Of course, that may be something to consider later on down the road once you've adjusted to your new lifestyle a bit.)

(I was not overweight, but I lost more than 20% of my body weight by starting to exercise and eat properly.)

Yeah, that's what I was thinking...start small, and introduce more variety of exercise to my routines once I go a few months or so through this.

The thing is, all this weight on me keeps me tired often, so I figure it may definitely be best to start off slow with this. I've had many times where I worked myself hard and almost passed out. So, yeah. Don't wan't that happening again!

jaleel wrote:Good luck with this!

If your ultimate goal is to become a frutarian maybe you can by start integrating more raw fruits and vegetables into your diet on top of or instead of the things you usually eat? This might better prepare you for the yank? I've been at the point where I ate things 90% raw, but I just didn't feel like I was getting enough complex carbs to support the amount of exercise I do... also I read a post here where someone was talking about "riding the waves of energy you get and using them to work out" maybe if you do feel a bit energized that's a good time to go take a walk? Anyways, best of luck! You can do anything if you put your mind to it.

Yeah, my husband and I already talked much about that. We're already trying to add a few more raw foods into our diets. Though, due to our small budget, we may not start eating a lot more raw foods at least until after our move (hopefully we can both get decent jobs where we move to).

The metric system is socialized measurment. If you implement it it will only be a matter of time before your grandma will stand in front of a death panel being forced to deny the existance of baby Jesus.

Dude, I farted so much when I first went vegan. NOBODY WANTED TO BE MY FRIEND! Lolso don't worry, it's normal. It will last a few weeks. Also, I noticed that you're eating quite a few beans and lentils. That's good for protein, but not for the gas so much.

I would suggest just one thing: It would be best for you to eat a little more often. Eating small amounts more often increases your metabolism and keeps your energy up. If you can't do so at the moment, due to budget reasons, make sure you do this later on. It will help tremendously. Buying local produce that's in season is a great way to get more fruits and veggies that aren't too expensive.

When you start your exercising, start off slow by taking a 20 minute walk everyday. I don't use resistant bands too often.. but I'm sure you can look up on the internet all sorts of different exercises.

Definitely doing resistance/weight training exrecises would help, especially with raising your metabolism. Then you'll burn more calories even while resting. For exercises I can think of a few. I'm not sure what type of bands you have,if they're closed or open, but you can do all sorts of things with them, I've used them in group exercise classes a lot. You can put both feet over the band, and then while holding it do bicep curls, overhead shoulder press, etc. Anyway I'm sure there are a ,ot of different websites you can find info and pictures of various exercises.Eating frequently is important too, llike Marcina said. I have a habit of not eating frequently sometimes, and that's when I find myself tired and with no energy. Sounds like you're on your way!

The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.

Richard wrote:I heard that drinking lots and lots of water can help with acne / skin condition

Yeah... ...my husband keeps reminding me I need to drink more than 1 or 2 bottles of water each day. I'm just so not used to it, and end up forgetting. In the past, I almost always only had drinks with my meals and not just throughout the day like you would with snacks. I need to get into the habit of drinking more water!

As far as the acne, though, I read up that it can be due to toxins leaving your system, especially when eating healthier or cleansing.

Marcina wrote:Dude, I farted so much when I first went vegan. NOBODY WANTED TO BE MY FRIEND! Lolso don't worry, it's normal. It will last a few weeks. Also, I noticed that you're eating quite a few beans and lentils. That's good for protein, but not for the gas so much.

I would suggest just one thing: It would be best for you to eat a little more often. Eating small amounts more often increases your metabolism and keeps your energy up. If you can't do so at the moment, due to budget reasons, make sure you do this later on. It will help tremendously. Buying local produce that's in season is a great way to get more fruits and veggies that aren't too expensive.

When you start your exercising, start off slow by taking a 20 minute walk everyday. I don't use resistant bands too often.. but I'm sure you can look up on the internet all sorts of different exercises.

Good luck with your progress ^^

Well, considering it is only me and my husband in our home, and we don't have many friends (except online), AND that we just keep farting in sync with each other...I don't see that as a problem for us! I just hate that at first it smelled kind of revolting...

We figured since beans and lentils are cheap on our budget, it's a good way to go. That's our main problem. Our budget is just measly $100 in food stamps and $50 cash each month, and it can only go so far...which sucks! We're considering trying to eat less, though, as we have been eating a good bit, and I doubt it'd hurt us to eat a bit less and try to make things last a bit longer.

Prices are so costly at the stores near us! Though, hopefully when we move to Washington state, things should be better. We looked up places in the area where we're going, and they have a co-op nearby, so that might be cheaper on us to afford, hopefully.

hsorlando wrote:Definitely doing resistance/weight training exrecises would help, especially with raising your metabolism. Then you'll burn more calories even while resting. For exercises I can think of a few. I'm not sure what type of bands you have,if they're closed or open, but you can do all sorts of things with them, I've used them in group exercise classes a lot. You can put both feet over the band, and then while holding it do bicep curls, overhead shoulder press, etc. Anyway I'm sure there are a ,ot of different websites you can find info and pictures of various exercises.Eating frequently is important too, llike Marcina said. I have a habit of not eating frequently sometimes, and that's when I find myself tired and with no energy. Sounds like you're on your way!

We went to the store today, so walked a mile there and a mile back! We got mangos, 16 for $8! So hopefully that will help snackwise, until we get foodstamps on the 16th. I'm trying to cut down my snack to 1 fruit per day for now, until we find we can afford to buy enough fruit to have them as often as I was.

It's the most profound, life changing thing imaginable!Being positive and full of LIFE is the natural state of the human being.

Congratulations on your goals and achievements thus far, it can sometimes seem like a long road.. but take it one day at a time, one step in front of the other, and you can climb any mountain

Also, I do just wanted to offer advice in the realm of GREENS consumption.I find that not consuming enough greens(salads, green smoothies, etc.) reallycontributes to giving into cravings and sweets. I have found.. for my body, it comes down to mineralization. So, maybe add a green smoothie to your diet in the mornings tohelp energize you, hydrate you, and mineralize you

Also, I don't know if you know of Angela Stokes but she is an astonishing creature:www.rawreform.com